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Gender Policy Review Report

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Gender Policy Review Report GENDER POLICY REVIEW REPORT Enhancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment BHUTAN 1 Contents of Report Acronyms Executive Summary 1. Specific context of this study 1.1 Beijing Platform for Action 1.2 Convention on All Forms of Discrimination against Women 1.3 Sustainable Development Goals 2. Overview of government policy review process 2.1 Protocol for Policy Formulation 2.2 Implementation Mechanisms and Guidelines 2.3 National Action Plan on Gender 2008-2013 2.4 Eleventh Five Year Plan 2013-2018 3. Analysis of gender mainstreaming in policy in Bhutan 4. Specific detailed policy being reviewed 4.a Employment 4.b Economic Development and Cottage, Small and Medium Industries 4.c Education 4.d Youth 5. Case for dual strategy- Stand-alone gender policy and gender mainstreaming in all policy 5.1 Increased substantive studies and legislation on gender issues 5.2 CEDAW Recommendations 5.3 Previous National Action Plan 5.4 Beijing + 20 5.5 Sustainable Development Goals 5.6 Current Policy Framework 5.7 Agreement and support from stakeholders 6. Conclusions Annex 1: Table of all policy and references to gender Annex 2: All gender references in policy of the Kingdom of Bhutan Annex 3: Gender References in the 5 Year Plan 2013-2018 Annex 4: Sustainable Development Goals with relevant gender targets 2 ACRONYMS CEDAW Convention on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women CSI Cottage and Small Industries EFYP Eleventh Five Year Plan GFP Gender Focal Points GNHC Gross National Happiness Commission NAPG National Action Plan on Gender NCWC National Committee for Women and Children PFA Platform for Action RCSC Royal Civil Service Commission SDG Sustainable Development Goals 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This policy review was commissioned by the National Committee for Women and Children and supported with the assistance from the United Nations Development Programme in Bhutan. Stakeholder interviews with relevant government and CSO personnel were held in October 2015. The review looks at government policy review process, including the protocol for policy formulation and the implementation mechanisms and guidelines. It briefly analyses gender mainstreaming in policy in Bhutan and then moves to individual policies. The specific detailed policy reviewed in this report includes Employment (2013), Economic Development (2010) and Cottage, Small and Medium Industries (2012), Education (2014) and Youth (2011). In each of these areas the international standard setting documents that are used to measure gender mainstreaming of issues include the Beijing Platform for Action from 1995, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979, signed by Bhutan in 1980), and the Sustainable Development Goals which were agreed in September 2015. Each of these documents references the issues in these key policy areas, with the exception of youth. As such the separate sections of each of these documents are analysed against the policies themselves. Other policies are often referred to, as in many cases there is a significant cross-over of policy on gender. As gender is a cross cutting issue, this is not surprising, and is important, however, there is currently no one single document which brings together all the gender issues in policy into a comprehensive and articulated framework. This is an issue which is echoed throughout the document. In areas where the policy could be refined and expanded further case studies are provided from other countries, in addition to reference to other key resources for policy formulation such as the Bhutan Gender Equality Diagnostic of Selected Sectors (2013). I contrast to other policies reviewed; the Youth Policy (2011) mainstreams gender issues well. It was found through the study, that many policies lacked reference to key gender issues, although they may be present in other policies and/or Acts (which are not a part of the purview of this study), and that in many cases they were missing from policy altogether. IN many of these cases the previous National Action Plan for Gender (NAPG) 2008-2013 did articulate these issues, and outlined them in a clear framework with outcomes, outputs and activities. The past NAPG provided a solid basis for key policy issues in many of the areas studied in this review, and it is strongly advocated by this review that a second NAPG be developed, with an assessment of the current outputs and activities, and an expansion into additional areas which are flagged throughout this report. The report finishes with an outline of a case for dual strategy on gender which advocates for a stand-alone National Gender Action Plan as well as more gender mainstreaming in all policy. It substantiates this position through looking at the new substantive studies and legislation on gender issues, CEDAW Recommendations, the previous National Action Plan on Gender, recommendations from Beijing + 20 (in 2015), the new Sustainable Development Goals, the current policy framework, and the acknowledgement and agreement and support from stakeholders on the need for a document to provide an overall framework and repository of references to gender policy references in Bhutan. The annexes of this report also contains a table with a summary of all policy and references to gender, followed by a listing of full gender references in policy of the Kingdom of Bhutan, and a separate annex with gender references in the 5 Year Plan 2013-2018. Finally the Sustainable Development Goals are listed with relevant gender targets. These all provide key references for this policy review. 4 1. SPECIFIC CONTEXT OF THIS STUDY This review will contribute to increasing gender equality in Bhutan, in particular as far as governance and decision- making, education and employment are concerned. The review examines how Bhutanese policies have an impact on women’s participation in socio-economic development. It will begin with looking at how policy is made in Bhutan, and the context of gender policy as it currently stands in Bhutan. This includes a review of gender issues in all current and draft policy, as well as an in depth review of the Economic Development Policy 2010, National Education Policy, National Youth Policy 2011 and the National Employment Policy. The review will also include examples from other countries of relevance. The methodology and approach for the review is based on the principles enshrined in three international documents of the United Nations which Bhutan has committed to. These include the Beijing Platform for Action, the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Sustainable Development Goals. 1.1 BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION The Beijing Platform for Action was agreed by governments of the world in 1995 at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. The Mission Statement claims that it aims at “removing all the obstacles to women's active participation in all spheres of public and private life through a full and equal share in economic, social, cultural and political decision-making”. The document includes 12 critical areas of concern, each with its own strategic objectives and actions. The critical areas of concern are: women and poverty; education and training of women; women and health; violence against women; women in armed conflict; women and the economy; women in power and decision-making; institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women; human rights of women; Women in the media; women and the environment; and the girl-child. Of specific reference to national policy in relation to gender is the objective on institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women. Within this critical area of concern is the strategic objective to integrate gender perspectives in legislation, public policies, programmes and projects (H 2). The actions to be taken by governments in this respect are to1: (a) Seek to ensure that before policy decisions are taken, an analysis of their impact on women and men, respectively, is carried out; (b) Regularly review national policies, programmes and projects, as well as their implementation, evaluating the impact of employment and income policies in order to guarantee that women are direct beneficiaries of development and that their full contribution to development, both remunerated and unremunerated, is considered in economic policy and planning; (c) Promote national strategies and aims on equality between women and men in order to eliminate obstacles to the exercise of women’s rights and eradicate all forms of discrimination against women; (d) Work with members of legislative bodies, as appropriate, to promote a gender perspective in all legislation and policies; (e) Give all ministries the mandate to review policies and programmes from a gender perspective and in the light of the Platform for Action; locate the responsibility for the implementation of that mandate at the highest possible level; establish and/or strengthen an inter-ministerial coordination structure to carry out this mandate, to monitor progress and to network with relevant machineries. 1 Section 204 5 By national machinery2: (a) Facilitate the formulation and implementation of government policies on equality between women and men, develop appropriate strategies and methodologies, and promote coordination and cooperation within the central Government in order to ensure mainstreaming of a gender perspective in all policy- making processes; (b) Promote and establish cooperative relationships with relevant branches of government, centres for women’s
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